Device for lighting lamps by electricity.



No. 680,636. Patented Aug. I3, I901.

H. M. BRIGI'IAM & S. M. MEYER. I DEVICE FOR LIGHTING LAMPS BY ELECTRICITY.

(Application filed Oct. 26, 189 8.)

(No Model.)

III IF WITNESSES: 2'0 INVENTORS UNITED STATES HENRY MARTYN BRIGHAM AND SVEND MARTIN MEYER, OF NEW YORK, NLY.

DEVICE FOR LIGHTING LAMPS BY ELECTRICITY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 680,636, dated August 13, 1901.

Original application filed February 5, 1898, Serial No. 669,237. Divided and this application filed October 26, 1898. Serial No. 694,603- (No model.)

To all whom it may con/067%.-

Be it known that We,HENRY MARTYN BRIG- HAM, a citizen of the United States, and SVEND MARTIN MEYER, a subject of the King of Denmark, both residents of the city and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Devices for Lighting Lamps by Electricity, (beinga division of an application, Serial No. 669,237, filed February 5, 1898,) of which'the following is a specification.

The subject of our invention is a device comprising a rocking arm carrying at or near its extremity a resistance-coil of platinum wire or like resistance conducting device adapted to be rendered incandescent by a current of electricity and which by an oscillating movement is moved into proximity with the lamp-wick at one termination of its stroke, and at the same time closes the electric circuit through the resistance medium, and at the other extremity of its stroke retires within the shell of the lamp-burner, so as to be concealed and also removed from proximity to the lamp-wick or flame and at the same time breaks the electric circuit, so as to render the battery inert.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of a lamp -burner, illustrating our invention and showing the lighting device in full lines in its retracted posi tion and in dotted lines in its advanced or lighting position. Fig. 2 is an elevation, on a larger scale, of the extremity of the rocking arm and resistance-coil. Fig. 3 is a similar view, partly in longitudinal section. Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line 4 4, Fig. 1.

2 represents the lamp-burner, and 3 the deflecting-cone thereof, which surrounds and surmounts the wick.

6 represents a tubular arm mounted in nearly vertical position within the lampburner and bent in nearly horizontal position at its extremity,where it carries an upwardlyprojecting resistance-coil 8, which may be a wire or thin plate of platin um or other suitable metal adapted to be rendered incandescent by a current of electricity and capable of resisting destruction from the heat thereof and of the flame.

The arm 6 is insulated from the lampburner and has a limited rocking movement in a vertical plane, for which purpose it is mounted by a rock-shaft 6*" in an insulatingbushing 13 in the lamp-burner, as shown in Fig. 4, and has a plate 6 in contact with a plate 14", which is connected by an insulated conducting-wire 14 with one pole of a battery 20' or other suitable source of electricity, the other pole of said battery being grounded by a conductor 21 in the shell of the lamp, as at 22. The purpose of the contact-plates 6 and 14 is to maintain electric connection between the insulated arm 6 and conductor 14, while permitting the aforesaid rocking movement of the arm 6 in a vertical plane, so that in one position the incandescent coil 18 may be withdrawn within the lamp cone or shell 3 and away from the flame or lamp-wick, as shown in full lines in Fig. 1, and in the other position the said incandescent coil may be thrown up in proximity with the lamp-wick, as shown in dotted lines. The incandescent coil 8 is mounted at its respective ends in posts 7 and 9, the first of which has direct metallic connection with the arm 6, while the post 9 is mounted upon a cap 10, mechanically fixed to the extremity of the arm 6 and electrically insulated therefrom by a suitable insulating material 11 capable of resisting heat. The movement of the arm 6 to throw up the incandescent coil carried thereby into lighting position is effected by means of an external handle 12, mounted on the insulated rock-shaft 6.

The construction is such that when the arm 6 is thrown up into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. l the resistance-coil 8 is projected through an aperture 3 in the cone 3 in close proximity to the lamp-wick, and at the same time the insulated cap 10, coming into contact with the metal shell or cone 3 of the burner, closes the electric circuit through the coil 8, rendering the same incandescent and igniting the wick. As soon as the handle 12 is released by the operator the arm 6, with the coil 8 mounted thereon, drops into the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1, breaking the electric circuit and retracting the coil within the cone or shell of the lamp- 6 and the other to an insulated conductor l connected with one pole of a suitable source of electricity and a contact-surface (as the lamp-cone 3) connected with the other pole of the source of electricity and in position to receive contact of the insulated cap 10 when the coil 8 is thrown by the vibrating arm 6 20 into proximity to the lamp-wick, as explained.

2. The combination of the vibrating insulated arm 6 having an insulated metal cap 10 at one end, the incandescing coil 8 connected at one end to the arm 6 and at the other end to the insulated cap 10 carried thereby, the lamp cone 3 covering the vibrating arm 6 and having an aperture 3 through which the coil is projected by the upward movement of the arm, and a suitable source of electricity hav' ing one pole connected to the insulated arm 6 and the other pole to the cone 3 with which the insulated cap 10 contacts; as explained.

HENRY MARTYN BRIGHAM. SVEND MARTIN MEYER. Witnesses:

OCTAVIUS KNIGHT, B. ITTNER. 

